Negotiations continue on churches for Atlanta stadium land | News

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ATLANTA -- Members of Mount Vernon Church on Martin Luther King Drive in southwest Atlanta will attend a specially-called meeting Tuesday evening to likely discuss the status of renewed negotiations with Mayor Kasim Reed about selling their land as part of the "preferred south site" for the new Atlanta stadium.

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority has previously offered $6 million for Mount Vernon before talks between the church and the GWCCA broke down.

Reed is now handling negotiations with the church along with help from former Ambassador Andrew Young. The mayor said publicly last week that it would likely take extra private money -- say from a billionaire -- to up the selling offer.

Reed said Tuesday that he's already had one meeting with Mount Vernon's pastor, Rev. Rodney Turner, and expects to have another later this week.

Last week, Reed announced at a news conference that Friendship Baptist Church, which also sits on the proposed site for the stadium, is being purchased for $19.5 million. Members of that congregation still have to vote on the sale, but no date for that has been scheduled.

October 1 is considered a hard-and-fast deadline for purchasing the two church properties. On that date, the Falcons and the GWCCA must sign a site-specific contract.